Method of making plastic ornaments.



A. M. HOLSTEIN.

METHOD or MAKING PLASTIC ORNAMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 21,1906.

Patented Nov. 10, 1908.

2 BHEETSSHEET 1.

\l/ V I Ill/1711755555 l cATTJEZ VE'Y.

A. M HOLSTEIN. METHOD OI MAKING PLASTIC ORNAMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 21,1906.

903,189 Patented Nov. 10,1908.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

5y I I I To all whor n it may concern:

. UNITED srkrss PATENT orr cn ADOLPH M. HOLSTEINQOF sYRAcUsnrnw'YoaK.

METHOD OF Be it known that I, ADOLPH M. HOLSTEIN, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, haveinv'ented new and useful Improvements in Methods of Making Plastic Ornaments, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact descrlption.

This invention relates to the manufacture of plastic ornaments, whereby I am enabled to reproduce in plastic material the configuration, and particularly the grain, of any wood ornament or carving.

I amaware that it is common to impress ornamental contours in plastic material to be used as molding for decorative purposes, and also for producing casket ornaments, but in all of these plastic commercial products, so far as I am-aware, the ornamental surface has been practically smooth and free from any impression of the grains of different woods.

The essential purpose, therefore, of my present invention is to reproduce in plastic material the grain of the wood which the plastic ornament is designed to represent.

It is well known that these different woods are characterized or distinguished by their particular grain, and in the production of a plastic ornament having a grain to represent any particular wood, a carving is first made in such wood of the ornament which it is desired to reproduce in plastic material. The surface of the carving is then treated with a liquid, such as pure lard oil, which causes the grain to stand out more clearly and at the same time, prevents adhesion of the plastic material to the ornamented surface of the carving when making the mold. This prepared ornament is then impressed into a v body of plastic material which is sustained in a suitable frame or flask for the purpose of making a negative impression in such plastic material, after which the positive wood carving is withdrawn, leaving a negative mold, from which a metal mold may be cast, it being understood that the. grain of the wood carving is clearly impressed in the plastic mold, and may be reproduced in the name rnas'rrc ommmnn'rs.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application fil ed lay 21,1906- Serial No. 817 9.88.

metal mold. The plastic material from I which the ornament is to be formed is then placed in the metal mold and subjected to sufiicient pressure to cause the entire contour, together with the grain, to be imparted to the plastic body, which is then removed and properly trimmed to remove su erfluous material, and the whole ornamented surface is then stained to exactly imitate the color of the wood of the positive wood carving, or any variations in color to suit the taste of the user, the. plastic nament being then ready for use. In some instances, however, I may prefer to incorporate the stain in the plastic mixture before it is molded into an ornament, thereby giving a natural color to the whole body so that if a portion of the ornament should be broken off, the imperfection would not be so noticeable as when the stain is applied merely to the surface of the ornament.

The various steps in the manufacture of these plastic ornaments are shown in the drawings, in which Figure 1 is a face view of a positive wood carving. Fig. 2 is a plan of the negative plastic mold. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the plastic wood carving as impressed into a body of plastic material to form the mold seen in Fig. 2. Fig.4 is a similar sectional view of a metal negative mold made from the plastic mold seen in Fig. 2, and a body of plastic material impressed against said mold to form a positive plastic ornament. Fig. 5 is a face view of the positive plastic ornament seen in Fig. 4.

I have sought by this process to produce any plastic ornament in which the grain, pores and other characteristics of any particular wood may be exactly reproduced as an economic substitute for wood to be used in any and all places where wood moldings or wood carvings might be desired for decorative purpos I Up to the present time plastic ornaments of different designs have been made by rotary and reciprocatory dies, such ornaments being usually glued or otherwise fastened to different wood moldin s, such as picture frames, and wall moldings, but the ornamented contours have always been smooth with no attempt to imitate the characteristic Patented Nov. 10, 1 908.

- gains and pores of an particular wood.

y improvements, in the roduction of plastic ornaments 1n I which t e grain, pores and other peculiar characteristics'of mdividual woods are recarved in mahogany, and so on through the list of thediflerent woods. After the wood ornament is carved, it is mounted u on and usually secured to a suitable bac 'ng, as 2, thereby forming a positive die, as

seen in Fig. 1. The surface of the carving as oil, which gives the is then treated with a suitable liquid, such 1 ain' -a more conspicuous relief, and at t e same time, prevents adhesion of the wood to the plastic body during the formation of the negative. The-next step in the process is toprovide a wood block, as 3, with a rough chamber, as -4.-, of slightly greater dimensions than the outer dimensions of the ornament, and to place into such chambera quantity of composite'plastic material of. a putty-nature, containing a fibrous bond and an adhesive, as glue or cement, to form acohes'ive plastic mass, into which the wood carving is firmly pressed with a suflicient degree of force so that when the positive carving is 1 removed, a negative impression of such stance, glue and pecially when sli carving, includmg an exact reproduction of the grain, is made in the plastic body,

the plastic negative being best shown in Fig."2,'while the manner of making such impression is shown in Fi 3. The ingredients of this plastic material, more specifically stated, consist of a quantity of plasterof-paris, raw linseed or crude 011, a suitable bond, as wood fiber or some ciliary subdglycerin all thoroughly mixed and kneade so as todiffuse the various ingredients and thoroughly incorpoby steam or otherwise. The glycerin is used,

,to render the composite material pliable, es-

tly warmed, and the fiber serving to bind t em together.

The negative plastic mold is now allowedto set or harden, and may then be treated to a. light coat of oil, and used for the reproduction of positive plastic ornaments.

there ore, consist, mainly.

While this plastic negative mold may be useful in the reproduction of a limited number of dpositive plasticornaments it is not ada te for contmuoususe, and I therefore,

pro er to use it as a pattern from which a or otherwise formed, as shown in Fig. 4. I have discovered, however, that a thin metal negative may be made by electro-plating directly u on the surface of the lastic negative, an in order to render th1s thinplate useful in the reproduction of positive plastic ornaments, it is usually backed u by some easily fusible metal, such as Bab itt metal negative metal mold, as -5 may be cast,

which may be poured, when melted, upon the back of the negative electro plate to the desired thickness for the purpose .of reinforcing the thin metal surface, thereby formtic ornament in the negative mo (1, a ho y of composite plastic material, previously described, is spread over the negative surface suflicient to'entirely cover the same, which 1; is then firmly pressed by a suitable plate, as

--7-- against the ne' ative surface, thereby forming a'positlve p astic ornament 6 which 1s an'exaet reproductionof the wood carving shown in Fig. 1. After the positive giastic' ornament is thus formed, it 1s withawn from the negative die 5-- and its rear face, which is usually plain, is then steamed sufficiently to moisten the adhesive, whereupon it is adhesivel applied to the casket or to any other b0 y, as ---8, for

which such an ornament is desired.

I desire to incorporate .in my present application that part of my process by which the stain is incorporated and thoroughly,

mixed into the lastic material before forming it into a mo d.

What I claim is:

The process of reproducing the grain, pores and other characteristics of wood ornaments, consistin first in making an ornamentof the woo which it is deslred 'to imilate then treating the ornamented surface of the wood with a liquid lubricant to render the grain and pores more distinct and in greater relief and to prevent adhesion of the wood to the plastic ne ative, then preparing a plastic composite b0 y of plaster of paris,

oil and glue together with a bond of clliary substance thoroughly mixed and kneaded together and placlng such plastic body in a suitable receptacle, then ressing the wood ornament into such plastlc body with sufli cient force to form a negative of the wood ornament including the grain and pores thereof, then withdrawing the Wood ornamoving the positive ornament from the negament and allowing the negative surface to tive. 10 harden, then preparing a second body of the In witness whereof I have hereunto set same plastic material and impressing it my hand this 14 day of May, 1906.

against the negative surface with suflicient ADOLPH M.'HOLSTEIN. force to cause the reproduction of such nega- Witnesses: tive surface including the grain and pores H. MAZUR,

to form a positive ornament. and finally re- LnoN MAzUR. 

